Report & Pics: Wilson Saldanha Shirthady/Kuwait
Daijiworld Media Network - Kuwait
Kuwait, Aug 22: "When two nations come together, it is unparallelled," said A K Srivastava, second secretary (information, press and culture) of Indian Embassy in Kuwait during the programme. Indeed, it was an unparallelled event beating all the records of previous events organized by Creative Indians Association.
The most awaited event with Indo-Pak artistes, "Atif Aslam Live in Concert" was organized by Creative Indians Association at the Abdul Aziz Al-Khateeb Hall, Al-Arabi Club, Mansouriya on Friday August 21. After the super hit mega programmes "Sunidhi Chauhan Concert", "Mika Singh Live" and "Arijit Singh Concert", once again Prashanth D’Souza, president of Creative Indian Association and a veteran in organizing events in Kuwait, brought this mega event to Kuwait.
The crowd was eagerly waiting for the star in a specially made hall with glittering lights and thundering sound. Beating all the previous records, the programme started almost in time as promised. The event started with Kuwaiti singer Mubarak Al-Rashid singing Salman Khan's Aaj ki party followed by foot-tapping dance by Dancing Divas. Harshida Madhaparia, better known as Harshi Mad made an entry with the song " Lovely". The UK-born singer, performer and actress entertained the crowd with songs like Dhoom Machale, Yaar naa miley, Tum hi ho, Sunny sunny, Chittiyaan kalaiyaan, Baby doll, Tumhi Ho Bandhu, Balam Pichkari, Subha hone na de, Dilliwali Girlfriend, Ainvayi Ainvayi, Desi girl, Saturday Saturday, Abhi toh party shuru hui hai, Rihanna's We found love etc. When a member of the audience danced salsa for her song "Senorita" the whole crowd was mesmerized. Her gorgeous looks, powerful vocals, unique style and energetic performance were appreciated by everyone.
Chirag Wadhwani, the finalist of the Laugh India Laugh reality show made an entry with Dancing Diva's dance on baby doll. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the standup comedy with jokes and mimicry. A K Srivastava, second secretary (information, press and culture) of the Indian Embassy was the chief guest for the function who spoke a few words wishing success for the event. President Prashanth D'Souza honoured the sponsors with mementoes. Media persons, well wishers and the people who contributed for the event were also honoured with bouquets.
Looking cool in a black T-shirt and rolled up jeans, Atif made the grand entry with the song "Woh lamhe". The audience, who had been waiting for this moment, welcomed the star of the day with huge applause, waving hands, mobile lights and loud screams. His handsome looks, well maintained body, powerful and smooth sound, style and energetic performance made the audience jump from their seats for every song. The security personnel had a tough time making them sit in their seats.
Atif belted out his most popular numbers as well as a blend of Bollywood chartbusters such as Doorie, Ehsaas, Bakhuda tumhi ho, Tera hone laga hoon, Jal pari, Mera piya ghar aaya, Allah hoo, Pehli Nazar, Jab koi baat bigad jaye, Hona tha pyar, Meri kahani, Tu chahiye, Jeena jeena, Oh mere Khuda, Hum Kis Gali Jaa Rahey Hain, Piya o re piya, Tu jaane na, Tere bin, Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Mein etc. He picked up his guitar and played it while singing. He also took some selfies (a trend among the mobile users which become more popular after a song in Salman's recent super hit movie) with the audience. Even though it was not allowed for an artiste to leave the stage for security reasons, Atif Aslam dared to come down and go in between the audience several times.
He concluded the show with "Aadat", a song that he always saves for the last. "Aadat" was his first single recording which was recorded from his own pocket money. This single went viral and made Atif a household name. Multi-talented Atif Aslam is a Pakistani pop and rock singer, songwriter, musician, dancer and film actor, strongly inspired by the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen, Aslam hails from Wazirabad, Punjab, Pakistan. Prior to pursuing his dream of being a musician, Aslam was a proficient cricketer and had been selected for the Pakistani under 19 cricket team trials.
The event was compered by Kuwait's top MCs Lloyd John, Merwin Pereira and Nita Bhatkar.
The event was powered by Palatial Group and sponsored by Vertex Kuwait company (gold sponsor), A4 international general trading company (silver sponsor), City Bus (bronze sponsor), Girnar Tea (associate sponsor), Eternity Travel and tours (travel partner) and Behbehani motors company (logistics sponsor).
As predicted, “Atif Aslam Live in Concert” was the hottest event of the year, thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. It is a great effort from Prashanth D'Souza and his team Creative Indian Association to showcase Bollywood shows in Kuwait which spreads the favor of Indian art and music in this country away from motherland.